The Before
by OctoberWren
Summary: Zombie Apocalypse Au (with not a lot of zombies to be honest) They were kids when the end came and went and with Jellal injured, Erza wonders how they can ever make it back from this. Happy Ending guys, I don't do tragedy (only angst ; ) )


_**Author's Note**_ : Okay to be real guys, I'm super scared of this one. I love Erza but I've never written for her, so I'm not sure I got her voice down. But I love a challenge and some sweetheart over at Tumblr game me this prompt and I ran with it. So I hope you guys enjoy this! And thanks for reading!

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 ** _Summary:_** Jerza Au: Zombie apocalypse (with not a lot of zombies to be honest) They were kids when it the end came and went and with Jellal injured, Erza wonders how they can ever make it back from this.

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The _before_ was something fascinating to her. Erza was just a girl when The End came and went, passing her by at age six. She has vague memories of three other children (and interestingly enough a cat) during those _before_ times.

Sometimes she can almost, _almost but not quite,_ hear their childhood games, filled with wonder and fantasy ringing in her ears. Of dragons and magic users slaying the evils of the world.

Good against evil.

It was so simple back then for her. She stood upon the playground with a hand held high holding a block of wood, that in her hands had been a fierce sword forged with bravery. The younger children looking at her with awe and respect, their rosey cheeks flushed with excitement as she stood tall (for her age) atop the Jungle Gym in her best fierce pose.

She was always fearless.

Or maybe she was just stupid, she's always thought there was a fine line between them, after all.

"You have that look on your face." His voice is enough to snap her out of the _before_ thoughts, before death rose up from the ground and took her brave sword right from under her.

Monsters were real and she was just a six year old with a piece of tree for a weapon and fearlessness running through her veins.

She supposes she should feel grateful that it lasted as long as it did, without anyone getting hurt. In the dark corners of her mind she suspects that she is still that six year old. Playing the fierce warrior, playing a spectacular awe inspiring part. A very convincing act, one Erza almost convinced herself she was born to lead.

But that was _before_ and like most things in the before they might have been fascinating but they were all warped and twisted.

Because he was hurt and this was never a part she was meant to play. Not to him. Never to him. The Villain.

And yet…

"Erza." His voice is so calm and truly gentle that she wants to bite and scratch and rail against it, because how can he be a safe haven in this hurricane of life where she feels like that plank of wood. Shattering at the force of pressure to strong to bare.

"Do you ever think how fascinating it was when we were kids?" It's no surprise that her voice is just as calm as his, more so, if she was feeling poetic she'd say it was just as calm, still, _dead_ , as the creatures trying to claw inside the makeshift hospital.

"Erza…"

"Completely fascinating really, a library in every town stocked with books with so much information Levy would have wept." He's repeating her name now, with a tinge of panic, and worry. It's ridiculous that he's worried. Probably smart too, she can feel the mix of hysteria riding in her bloodstream.

"And restaurants filled with food, Natsu probably wouldn't have been so skinny if they still utterly fascinating, don't you think Jellal?" It's at this exact moment that Erza realizes she was never the still, quiet calm of the dead.

She was the hurricane.

"Don't-" And of course he knows who she is, he was right beside her on the Jungle Gym after all, A King and Queen protecting their subjects from evil.

Two six year olds saving their friends from corpses that had managed the impossible and crawled out of their own graves.

"And hospitals must have been amazing, a modern miracle really. They would have had doctors and nurses."She smiles, but it's not sweet, it's bitter and Erza can almost taste it. "An operating table."

For the first time since he first spoke her name she allows herself to look at him, lying in that straw bed and missing an arm.

He focuses on the hazel of her eyes, as if by pure will alone she'll turn back into a woman without guilt and the whole world would be lifted off her shoulders.

Erza never looks up and he can't make her, no one could make Titina do anything she doesn't want to do.

"It wasn't your fault." Jellal isn't exactly one to give up either, and he knew way before the blood and destruction that he'd raise hell for her. He thinks by the shattered look that crosses her face, she might feel the same, and even though he's half the man he once was, it doesn't matter. Because the universe feels ripe with hope all of a sudden.

"Your smiling?! I cut off your arm and you're smiling?!" She's a full blown hurricane at it's peak now and if he wasn't injured by her own hands no less, she would have slapped him over the head.

"You saved my life, Erza, I would have been the dead come to life without you. That creature did bite me if you recall." He says it softly like she's a wild animal ready to snarl and bite if cornered.

He's not wrong. (He hardly ever is.)

"I took," her voices cracks and if this was anyone else she would be embarrassed. But it's not, it's him and it's her and it's _them_.

And she can't believe she hurt him, even if it was to save him. She still inflicted pain and watched crimson blood spill from his body from her very real sword.

"I feel alive Erza, more than I ever have felt before." He's still smiling and without their normal hesitation in all things them, he reaches out and grabs her hand, and intertwines it with his only one. And he thinks he's lucky and blessed to even have this.

"You're crazy." Bewildered that's what this feeling is, she thinks, absolutely confused. Where was the anger, the betrayal she expected? She searched his eyes trying to find the trick.

Because certainly this is a trick, their lives were a greek tragedy come to life with the dead among them. But even when her eyes burn trying to find something, anything, all she can truly see is-

"Oh."The heat creeps into her cheeks and she doesn't understand, how can she feel so untethered just a few seconds ago and now…

Now with his hand clutched in her's she feels the universe realign itself.

"It's because we save each other. Always." Jellal says all knowingly and if he hadn't been doing it for years she would have sworn he could stare into her thoughts.

"We're alive." She whispered it hesitatingly.

"Yes."

"We're together." She says an octave louder.

"Yes."

"We save each other." And now her voice is strong, sure, a storm of strength instead of the destruction she was about unleash.

"Always." Jellal smiles and it's so breathtaking that she can't help but smile back in equal wonderment.

Erza grips his hand, not to test the tether of them, she does it because she finally feels whole again. She feels content in a world still just as destructive as it was yesterday and the day before that, and the year before that, and the before.

But now she knows that she's not alone, she was never alone in this not since a blue haired boy declared himself King to her Queen and they decided to fight together. Always.

It's love in his eyes and her own, and it makes the crest of the hurricane die down until nothing is left but the calm.

There will be a tomorrow and an after of course there will be, but what's most important and yes, fascinating, Erza thinks, as she climbs into the straw bed next to Jellal, is the all consuming _Now._


End file.
